Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-06-22
MEDICINE LODGE. KANSAS WEDNESDAY JUNE p. 1897
AMONG THE YAXUTS.
HOw People Live In the Coolest Inha bited
Spot In the World.

who was sent to the Lena Delta in North.
western Siberia to deliver to the natives
gifts from the Government of tho United
States to repay them for the aid they rem
dered him in his search for the missing
members of the Jeannette party, says in
his report that the town of Veroyansk,
Siberia is the coolest inhabited spot in the
world, writes Percy Drummond in tho
Boston Gl0bs. The thermometer stood at
eighty-six below zero when he was there,
and he says it seldom goes above fifty
below. / asked him the other day what
the people did who lived at this blissful
spot; what they had to eat and how they
liked it.
pretty good sort of climate. Home Sweet
Home is the song all the world over, and
X the Veroyanskers should come here
they would wonder what people did whery
it is so internally hot. They would
smother in this climate, and pine for a still
northwesterly Arctic gale. 1t is wonde p
full the amount Of cold human flesh can
endure. The natives of Terra del Fuegc
go stark nakod the year round, and in
their country it freezes every night 1t Is
much colder in the Iona Delta, yet the
people manage TO keep comfortable, and
more die of smallpox aud scurvy than
four the effects Of tho intense cold. You
seldom hear of any one freezing to death,
and then it is those only who expose them
selves imprudently who die in that way.
More people are frozen to death in the
United States than in Siberia"
But how do they manage TO keeI
warml"
''Well, in the first place, thu Y acuts are
an enduring race, AMI are born in that
climate. Then they dress in furs, aud
have learned from their ancestors or from
their own experience how to ksep warm.
Their houses are built of logs, smeared
over on the outside and inside with ma
nure and mud. In each cabin Is a large
fireplace, which is used for both heating
and cooking. There is seldom more than
one room in these cabins, and usually tho
owners cattle, if he has any, occupy one
end OF the room in which he lives, being
tied or prevented from trampling on. the
babies by q bar. The houses are com
monty very comfortable, but are awfully
dirty, and smell-there is no word to de.
scribe it. Often, until got usei to it, ]
would rather lie down in the snow out.
side, with the thermometer fifty below
zero, than sleep in one of these huts. But
you've no idea what q man can stand
when he has to-"
"Have they windows in their houses7"
Eyes, ice windows. They use ice as we
use glass. A clear piece is selected, about
five or six inches thick, morticed in the
window opening in blocks two feet aud
sometimes as large as four feet square,
and with water is made solid. The water
is as good as putty. When the window
becomes dirty they scrape it off with a
knife, and when it has been scraped thir
they substitute new pane"
Doesn't the window ever meltin
"Bless you, no; it is freezing cold tina,
far from the fire. II the room ever got
warm enough to melt the ice the Yakuts
couldn't live in it, and would have to gC
out doors to cool off. At night the fire is
allowed to go out, as they have to econ
omize in fuel All they have is drift wood,
gathered on the banks Of the Lena river
In the summer time"
allow do they sleepl Do they undress
when they go to bedl"
"Always. They strip to their shirts
which are made of a thick sort of Russian
cloth as heavy as our canvas The men
and women wear the same kind of gar.
nents, and never have more than one at a
time. l took up lot of thick flannel for
them, enough to last the rest Of their lives,
and it will be a great deal more comfort
able than the native stuff, although the y
don't like it ut first. When they undress
they get into hunks built in the side of the
house; sometimes a man, his wife and all
his children in the same bunk They have
reindeer skins under and over them, and
curtains OF the same hanging before the
hunks. The last man or woman to undress
hangs all the clothing OF the rest out
doors over a pole that is kept for the pur-
pose"
"What is that fcr1"
ITO freeze the lice. They couldn't live
IL they didn't do it, and it has become a
national custom. The lice get into the
fur, and that is the only way to get them
out. BY hanging their clothes over the
pole every night they can keep reaso onably
free from them, but the fur fills up again
the next day"
''Do they ever bather'
''Never in their lives; they haven't any
word for bathing in their language, and
the impo5sibility of keeping clean is one
Of the greatest hardships OF Arctic life. ~
"What do they eati
Reindeer meat, beef-they have COWS,
queer-looking animals, about half as large
as ours, with hummock on their back s
like camel-fsh, bread made OF black
rye -four, tea, and an importe food made
Of chopped beef rolled into balls about the
size of a marble, and covered with
dough. These they pound
up and make into soup.
Then there is wood that is very nu-
tritious when it is ground up AMI boiled.
Mixed with reindeer meat, it makes q good
soup. They often eat their fish raw OF
course, they freeze solid as soon as they
are taken out Of the water, and the native,
particularly if he is on the road, cuts them
of in shavings as thin as our Clipped
beef, and eats them raw. They are pal
atable, and 1 have lived for days at time
on them, with cup of tea made over an
alcohol lamp by way of a variety. The
greatest luxury they have is butter, and
they will eat it by tho pound as our people
eat confectionery. A poor sort Of butter
is made from the milk OF tho native COW
that looks and tastes more like cheese
and they prize it above all other classes OF
food.
"Tho amount Of butter q native will cat
when he can get it," continued Lieutenan,
Scheutze, sis astonishing. A friend of
mine in Siberia told me of a man who ate
thirty-six pounds in one day, and the Z
didn't get all he wanted. They have a
way OF pounding up red berry and mix.
ing it with butter, which gives it beauti
ful pink tint and improves the flavor
Their drink is the Russian vodka, alraos'
pure alcohol, and they will trade their
shirts for it. The liq uor is scarce and ex
pensive, SO they are necessarily temper
ate people"
Show can man endure the intense
cold when the wind blowsP'
ut is, of course, necessary to keep tho
body protected, and as much OF the fact
as possible with furs, and even then it i.
common to freeze the extremities, but if
man knows how to take care of himself ht
will not suffer. Ny face and hands wer,
frozen a number of times. II / had gone
TO fire to warm, the skin would hav,
cracked open and given me much trouble
but by rubbing the frozen place with
snow, and getting it thawei out by fric
ton AMI gradual heat / never had any
trouble-n
TATTOOEO FOR LOVE-
white Men Covered with Oueer Desrs-u,